Happy Boxing Day! Damn I love this holiday. There’s nothing quite like a day dedicated to boxing up your old crap and taking it to Goodwill – while listening to Christmas music, of course, because technically the Christmas season doesn’t end until New Year’s Day. (Actually, technically it doesn’t end until January 6th when the 12 days of Christmas wraps up, but sometimes I don’t like to push my luck with the husband.) And that, kids, means you still have plenty of time to make these cookie cutter mini pizzas.

There was a time when you couldn’t get me within 5 feet of tomato soup. I distinctly remember checking the school lunch calendar and declaring tomato soup days bring your lunch days – despite the fact that the bowl of soup came with grilled cheese. What I don’t remember is exactly when I changed my tomato soup stance.

I’m 99% sure it was in high school, but I wouldn’t swear to that. I also couldn’t tell you if it happened because I forgot to bring my lunch and was starving, or if it happened by dipping my grilled cheese crust in the soup to soften it up. Honestly, I don’t even care how or why I changed my tomato soup stance. I’m just glad I did.

Nailed it. I’m just going to go ahead and say it – this is better than Panera’s tomato soup. I doubled the recipe when we had company over, and there was literally nothing left over. Just fair warning – once you make this, you won’t be able to go back to the canned stuff. So if you’re lazy, this is not the soup for you.

Alterations

Rather than doing the basil and thyme separately, I used seasoned diced tomatoes. I also used regular milk (1%) and greek yogurt rather than the soy variety. I also recommend wearing an apron while using an immersion blender. You’re welcome.

I, along with my sisters, am borderline completely obsessed with tradition. And, if you ask my parents, it never took much for us to declare something a tradition. Basically we had to do it once. Mostly these traditions apply to Christmas – watching Christmas Vacation Thanksgiving night, cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Christmas morning, stockings before breakfast, gifts after breakfast. . .you get the idea.

Also in the tradition mix? The type of Christmas cookies to be baked. Acceptable ones include sugar cookies, mint sandwich cookies, Mexican wedding cakes, and peanut butter blossoms. Unacceptable ones include chocolate chip cookies (why my dad thinks those are Christmas cookies I will never understand).

Based on the above information, you can see how it took a fair amount of courage for my husband to suggest a new type of cookie to add to the mix. And you can see how it was nothing short of a Christmas miracle that I acquiesced.

Nailed it. The husband and I have renamed these Crackies because a) they’re cookies made from crackers (we’re so clever!), and b) they’re addictive. Ridiculously so. You’ve been warned.

Alterations

To be completely honest, I didn’t even look at the recipe until a few minutes ago because it seemed rather self explanatory. And other than the powdered sugar that didn’t make it into my peanut butter, I’d say it was. Also, I obviously didn’t completely cover mine with chocolate. But I did use colored sugar (and snowflake crackers) to make them festive!

I have a board on Pinterest aptly named “If I Was Crafty”. I say aptly named because I don’t consider myself crafty. At all. And yet I find myself perusing Pinterest thinking, “I could totally do that”. Which then leads to me showing whatever project it is to my husband, scoffing at his “Are you sure you can do that?”, perusing Hobby Lobby, returning home with a crapton of crafting supplies, and said crafting supplies sitting in the closet for months while I go back and forth on whether to return them or risk tears of frustration and tackle the project.

Nailed it. I don’t want to brag, but this was my first time using a hot glue gun, and I escaped burn free. I realize it’s not perfect, but my best friend told me it looks professionally done (which is why she’s my best friend), so I’m going with it. Seriously though, if I can handle this project, you can handle this project.

Alterations

I was going to fill with leaves like in the original, but I had already invested about 4 hours of my life to watching glue dry. And my ribbon is super sad because I was too lazy to dig out the spool so I just worked with what I had pre-cut.